What do you do about broken blood vessels in the eye?

Customer Question

Hello and thanks for your question. What you're referring to is called a subconjunctival hemorrhage. This essentially amounts to a bruise on the eye, except on the eye the tissue that the blood is underneath is transparent so you see the blood exactly the color it is, versus a bruise on your arm which is hiding beneath layers of skin.

There are things that can predispose to getting these hemorrhages. Warfarin (coumadin) is one of the most common drugs that cause this. However, taking aspirin, ibuprofen, motrin, aleve, naprosyn can thin the blood and predispose to these. Also taking garlic, ginseng, ginko biloba and vitamin E can also thin the blood and predispose to getting these. However, as any bruise, these can happen without taking any of these blood-thinning medications.

Also when there is significant pressure being generated in the eye or head, this can happen from that. Examples of this include eye rubbing, sneezing, coughing, lifting a heavy load or straining against a bowel movement.

If you are not taking any of these medicines or vitamins and/or you've not had any of these pressure causing events, then having multiple episodes of this could be a sign of a bleeding problem and should be checked out by your primary care doctor.

In the meantime, if there is any eye discomfort, cool compresses and/or artificial tears can help alleviate your symptoms. As long as there has been no prior eye surgery or trauma, however, there is usually little cause for concern. These hemorrhages will usually resolve in 1-3 weeks spontaneously, as any bruise would.

Doctor DanB :

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My opinion is solely informative and does not constitute a formal medical opinion or recommendation. For a formal medical opinion and/or recommendation you must see an eye doctor. Thanks for your inquiry!